"Planning My Escape From Cuba" - Nick Shirley Returns | PBD #793
5/7/20261 hr 27 min
Patrick Bet-David sits down with Nick Shirley - who just returned from Cuba after nearly being taken hostage - for a raw, unfiltered conversation about what life under communism really looks like on the ground.
Nick reveals how Cuban intelligence followed him from the moment he landed, how a two-star general was waiting in the hotel lobby when he tried to flee at 3 a.m., and why the Cuban president himself knew he was there.
Then: the latest on the Quality Learning Center fraud explosion in Minnesota, Ilhan Omar blocking a subpoena and submitting zero evidence in the $250M COVID fraud probe, the "Stop Nick Shirley Act" being pushed by California lawmakers to make investigative journalism illegal, fraud-riddled daycares and hospices across LA, and what Nick found on the streets of Skid Row - including a 12-year-old living among fentanyl dealers and prostitutes.
Plus: Candace Owens coming after him, his falling out with Andrew Callahan, the five-year plan he wrote at age 20 in Chile with $0 in his pocket - and how almost every line of it has already come true.
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Ⓜ️ MINNECT WITH NICK SHIRLEY: https://bit.ly/49gyFlE
👕 VISIT NICK'S STORE: https://bit.ly/3RreQTq
🦁 THE VAULT 2026: AUG 31ST TO SEPT 1ST: https://bit.ly/4mZdLhD
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsNick Shirley· Guest0:00
This gets really crazy, actually. You're actually the first person who's ever seen this. None of the gas stations are even in operation right now because there's quite literally no gas.
Patrick Bet-David· Host0:07
You almost got taken hostage while you were there.
Nick Shirley· Guest0:11
Yeah. So the president of Cuba knew that we were there. Like, "We've been monitoring you guys."
Patrick Bet-David· Host0:16
What do you think's gonna actually end up happening to Cuba?
Nick Shirley· Guest0:21
Their monthly salary's $14, uh, USD. One person said they haven't had eggs in a year.
Patrick Bet-David· Host0:30
What's the latest with you and Newsom?
Nick Shirley· Guest0:32
What do you think about the Stop Nick Shirley Act?
Patrick Bet-David· Host0:34
Stop Nick Shirley Act.
Speaker 2· Soundbite0:36
I think you're a psycho scam artist.
Nick Shirley· Guest0:37
It's so bad in California. Like, so bad. Like, nobody knows how bad it is except for the people living in California. Quality leering center. Ilhan Omar, she needs to get prosecuted or she needs to get deported. There's evidence that she, she did marry her brother. Candace Owens came after me, uh, a while back. That was very interesting.
Patrick Bet-David· Host1:01
Why would Candace Owens come after you? Nick Shirley, how you doing?
Nick Shirley· Guest1:07
Amazing.
Patrick Bet-David· Host1:08
Good seeing you again. Last time we did this was, what, New Year's Eve?
Nick Shirley· Guest1:13
New Year's Eve. It's been a crazy four months since then.
Patrick Bet-David· Host1:15
Yes, a lot. We- and we got a lot of things to talk about, but you just got back from Cuba. Out of all the places you can go to, why Cuba?
Nick Shirley· Guest1:23
I've been wanting to go to Cuba for the past year or so.
Patrick Bet-David· Host1:26
Okay.
Nick Shirley· Guest1:26
'Cause I've been tracking, like, the rise of communism, socialism here inside